Applique printing process and machine

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for creating a design that is melded onto an underlying layer of material that is then cut out and applied onto a final surface to produce an appliqué. The design is first created using a printer to print a design onto a top layer of “puff” or other suitable cloth material. The printed design area is cut out of the top layer material and then the bottom layer, to create a two layer appliqué that resembles a traditional stitched appliqué.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/477,758 filed Jun. 3, 2009 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,088,241, which claimspriority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/058,530filed Jun. 3, 2008.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to methods of producingcustomized designs resembling appliqués created with traditionalneedlework techniques, and more particularly to a method of creating adesign that is melded onto an underlying border material for adhering toa final surface such as a garment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a method and apparatus for creating adesign that is melded onto an underlying layer of material that is thencut out and applied onto a final surface to produce an appliqué. Thedesign is first created by using a printer to print a design onto a toplayer of “puff” or other suitable cloth material. The apparatus canadhere the top layer onto a bottom layer material, such as felt or othercloth backing material, using hot glue or other adhering means. Thedesign on the top layer and/or the border created by the bottom layermaterial can be embellished with a line of printed or cut stitches. Theprinted design area is first cut out of the top layer material and thenthe bottom layer respectively, to create a two layer appliqué consistingof the design on the top layer with an underlying border of material onthe bottom layer. The appliqué can be heat pressed onto a final surfacesuch as a garment, and resembles an appliqué created and stitched withtraditional or labor-intensive needlework techniques.

In a preferred embodiment, the printed material is fed from a printerinto an automated apparatus that deposits hot glue laminate onto abottom layer of felt or other cloth backing material on a conveyor beltand then uses a roller to press and meld the two layers together. Alaser may be used to cut a particular printed design, including anyhollow areas within the design, out of the top layer material. The lasermay also burn a dotted line into the bottom layer, just outside theouter edge of the design area on the top layer, so that the designappears to be surrounded by a line of stitching on the bottom layermaterial.

The two layer appliqué, consisting of a design on the top layerappearing as if stitched onto an underlying border created by the bottomlayer, is then cut out of the waste portions of the bottom layermaterial using a laser. Next, hot glue laminate is applied to the bottomside of the appliqué, which is then heat pressed onto a final surfacesuch as a garment that has been placed onto a platen on the conveyorbelt of the apparatus. If “puff” material is used for the top layer, theheat and pressure applied to the appliqué causes the puff material toexpand and provide a three-dimensional raised or puff effect. Theprinted appliqué as adhered onto the final surface resembles one createdand stitched with traditional or labor-intensive needlework appliquétechniques.

IN THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an appliqué being formed according tothe present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the completed appliqué of the present invention as appliedonto a final surface such as a T-shirt.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The process of the present invention is particularly suited to creationof single or low unit batches of a design. Instead of creating a largenumber of design units that must be held in stock, this process enableson-demand printing to allow a customer to create a small number of unitsin a efficient manner without expending the time and labor required fortraditional needlework appliqué techniques. A design is simply printedonto fabric, adhered to cloth backing, cut as desired, and attached to agarment or other product.

FIG. 1 shows a layer of material such as heat activated puff material 12fed from an automated printer that has printed a particular design 10onto the material 12. The design can be any shape and any printablecolor or mixture of colors. A lines of stitches can be printed justinside the outer border of the design, to give the appearance ofhand-stitching as in an appliqué.

A particular design 10 is printed, using information submitted to theprinter by a customized software application that places and processesorders, onto the top layer of puff or other cloth material 12. A dottedline resembling stitches may be then printed onto the design, inside theouter edge of the particular printed design, giving the appearance thatthe puff or top layer design is attached to the bottom layer with handor machine stitching. The design 10 shown in FIG. 1 is simply a hollowrectangle. In practice, the printed design would generally be moreintricate, possibly having a plurality of discrete and separate shapessuch as symbols or letters in different fonts as well as a wide range ofcolors capable of being printed with the printer.

The material is fed into the appliqué making apparatus shown in FIG. 1.On the conveyor belt of the apparatus 13, a bottom layer of felt orother cloth backing material 14 serves as the underlying layer andborder of the appliqué, onto which the layer of “puff” or other clothmaterial 12 is melded. Suitable materials 12 include heat activated“puff” material that expands upon application of heat and pressure togive a three-dimensional raised or puff effect. It can, for example, bea heat activated appliqué on pressure sensitive release paper such asdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,458. Other suitable materials includeany cloth backing material.

To form the appliqué, hot glue laminate 16 is deposited onto the bottomlayer of material with a digital glue dispenser having an array of headsin the shape of the particular design shown in 10. Then, a roller (notshown) melds the top layer of puff or other material 12 onto theunderlying layer of felt or other cloth material 14 as shown in 18.

Next, the printed design 10, including both the design's outer edges andany inner edges surrounding any hollow spaces 20 within the design, iscut out of the top layer material 12 using a laser that leaves thebottom layer 14 intact. Although at this point the top layer 12 has beenmelded onto the underlying bottom layer 14, the laser is able to cutinto only the top and not the bottom layer. If desired, the laser alsoburns a dotted line of holes 24 into the bottom layer outside the outeredges of the design, giving the appearance of a line of stitching on theborder of the material underlying the top layer.

The two layer design is then cut out of the waste portions of the bottomlayer material with a laser, such that the resulting appliqué consistsof a printed design (i.e. top layer) melded onto an underlying felt orother material border (i.e. bottom layer). Scraps or waste materialresulting from the cutting of the top layer 12 and/or the bottom layer14 are removed by blowing compressed air onto the design area (or byother suitable extracting methods such as gravity or mechanical pickingmethods). The appliqué is then ready to be applied to a final surfaceusing a heat press. The final surface may be a cloth substrate orgarment or similar surfaces as found on another product such as abaseball cap, a jacket, a backpack, a pillow, a bag or other surfacesthat will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

To heat press the printed appliqué onto a final surface, the finalsurface is placed onto a platen that is suitable for that final surface.The platen is then placed back onto the conveyor belt of the apparatusin FIG. 1. Finally, hot glue laminate is applied to the back side of thebottom layer of the appliqué and the appliqué is then heat pressed ontothe final surface. If “puff” material is used for the top layer, theheat and pressure applied to the appliqué by the press causes the puffmaterial to expand, giving the appliqué a three-dimensional raised orpuff effect.

FIG. 2 shows the two layer appliqué applied onto a T-shirt 100 as afinal surface. The design 110 from a top layer of material shown withprinted stitches 112 is applied with hollow area 120 shown underlyingbottom layer 114. Thus, bottom layer 114 shows through in hollow area120.

A preferred embodiment includes first printing a particular design ontoa top layer of “puff” or other material that is fed onto an appliquémaking apparatus, then melding the top layer with hot glue onto anunderlying layer of felt or other material, optionally printing a dottedline onto the design area inside its outer edges to resemble stitching,and cutting the printed design area to separate the design from thewaste portions of top layer material. A dotted line may also be burnedinto the bottom layer, just outside the outer border of the design areaon the top layer. Next, the two layer appliqué, including the top layerof puff or other material and the bottom layer of felt or other materialmelded together, is cut out of the waste portions of the bottom layerwith a laser. Compressed air is blown onto the appliqué area to removeany scraps or waste material. To adhere the appliqué onto a finalsurface, the final surface is placed onto a platen on the conveyor beltof the apparatus. Glue laminate is applied to the bottom side of theappliqué. The appliqué is then heat pressed onto the final surface. Ifpuff material is used for the top layer, the heat press will cause thepuff layer to expand and provide a three-dimensional raised or puffeffect.

The invention as described provides a method of creating appliqués withan automated process that produces appliqués that appear as if they werecreated with and adhered onto a final surface using traditionalneedlework appliqué techniques. The process is fast, inexpensive, anduniquely suited to the manufacture of smaller quantities of a particularappliqué design.

While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown forpurposes of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that various changes in the methods and apparatusdisclosed herein may be made without departing from the scope of theinvention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An automated process for creating a multi-layeredprinted appliqué resembling a needlework appliqué, comprising: printinga design onto a first layer of material; attaching the first layer ofmaterial to a second layer of material; cutting a portion of the firstlayer of material with a laser cutter without cutting through the secondlayer of material; creating an appearance of stitching on a border ofthe second layer of material, the border of the second layer of materialbeing outside the first layer of material; cutting the second layer ofmaterial at an outer portion of the border to form an outer shape forthe multi-layered printed appliqué, the multi-layered printed appliquéincluding the cut second layer of material, the cut first layer ofmaterial, the appearance of stitching, and the printed design; andattaching the multi-layered printed appliqué to a cloth substrate. 2.The method of claim 1, further including extracting the cut portion fromthe first layer of material that is outside the printed design.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, further including extracting waste portions of thesecond layer of material.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the creatingthe appearance of stitching includes printing a dotted line thatresembles stitching on the border of the second layer of material. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the creating the appearance of stitchingincludes cutting, with a laser cutter, a series of holes that resemblesstitching on the border of the second layer of material.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the second layer of material is felt.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein a glue layer is located between the first layer ofmaterial and the second layer of material.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the attaching the first layer of material to the second layer ofmaterial includes adhering the first layer of material to the secondlayer of material.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the attaching themulti-layered printed appliqué to the cloth substrate includes heatingthe multi-layered printed appliqué.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe first layer of material includes puff material, and the heatingcause the puff material to expand.
 11. The method of claim 1, whereinthe attaching the first layer of material to the second layer ofmaterial occurs after the printing.
 12. The method of claim 1, whereinthe cloth substrate is located on one of a group consisting of a shirt,a baseball cap, a jacket, a backpack, a pillow, and a bag.
 13. A methodfor creating a multi-layered printed appliqué resembling a needleworkappliqué that is to be applied to a cloth substrate, comprising:receiving a design designated by a customer; by use of computer,printing at least a portion of the design onto a first layer ofmaterial; attaching the first layer of material to a second layer ofmaterial; cutting a portion of the first layer of material with a lasercutter without cutting through the second layer of material; removing awaste portion of the first layer of material that has been cut from andis located outside of the printed design on the first layer of material;creating an appearance of stitching on a border of the second layer ofmaterial, the border of the second layer of material being locatedoutside the first layer of material; and cutting the second layer ofmaterial at an outer portion of the border to form the multi-layeredprinted appliqué.
 14. The method of claim 13, further including removingwaste portions of the second layer of material after the cutting of thesecond layer of material.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein thecreating the appearance of stitching includes printing a dotted linethat resembles stitching on the border of the second layer of material.16. The method of claim 13, wherein the creating the appearance ofstitching includes cutting, with a laser cutter, a series of holes thatresembles stitching on the border of the second layer of material. 17.The method of claim 13, further including attaching the multi-layeredprinted appliqué to the cloth substrate, and the cloth substrate islocated on one of a group consisting of a shirt, a baseball cap, ajacket, a backpack, a pillow, and a bag.
 18. The method of claim 13,wherein the attaching the first layer of material to the second layer ofmaterial occurs after the printing.
 19. The method of claim 13, whereinthe method is automated and a plurality of customers each designate adesign, the operation of the method to generate the designs for theplurality of customers is continuous.
 20. The method of claim 13,wherein the attaching the first layer of material to the second layer ofmaterial includes adhering the first layer of material to the secondlayer of material.